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Rare White Ape
December 1st, 2017, 04:29 PM
It’s December now and that means summer is here, and all of the big games releases for this year have blasted by and left our toupees spinning in the air. Only Xenoblade 2 remains, but I’m not a fan of JeR-Puh-Guhs so it’s unlikely that I’ll seek it out.

As such, it behoves me to list my top ten games for the year in reverse order (plus the bottom five because who doesn’t like a bit of controversy hey?). The winning game, el numero uno, should come as no surprise to anyone who knows my taste in gaming finery.

Starting with the shittest five games of 2017:

Middle Earth: Shadow of War
Star Wars Battlefront II
Destiny 2
Forza 7
Mass Effect: Andromeda

I get it. Destiny 2 is a good game. Forza 7 is a good game. Star Wars BFII is a good game. They’re all technically accomplished and achieve what they set out to do. But why are they here? Greed and mismanagement. Sometimes both. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It’s these things that take an otherwise enjoyable experience and turn them into joyless pains in the arse. Nobody wants a progression system turned into a soulless grind. Nobody wants end-game rewards that don’t actually reward anyone. Nobody wants constant reminders that the game might be a little bit better if you’d just spend a small amount of money for just one little loot box. Most of all, I’m sure that nobody wants a developer or a publisher that doesn’t treat the gaming community with respect. And I’ll point out Mass Effect in particular because I really feel sorry for that game. I’m not angry at these titles, I’m just… disappointed.

Now onto the good stuff!

10: Cuphead
I put this here because it feels like an incomplete list without an Xbox console exclusive title, since Microsoft put so much effort into pushing the exclusives this year. Also, why is the only Xbox game in my list a 2D platformer by an independent developer? Disclaimer: it’s the only game in this list that I haven’t actually played, but I love the art style and the effort the developer put into it, so why not give it some love?

9: What Remains Of Edith Finch
This is in here because I’m a fan of Giant Sparrow’s previous game, The Unfunished Swan. Edith Finch didn’t grab me as much as their last game did, but all the quality is still there with insane storytelling and attention to detail. One of the finest walking simulators you’ll ever play.

8: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Blue Shells exist in my nightmares. This might be ‘just a remake’ but I am glad it exists on a console that people are actually buying.

7: Horizon: Zero Dawn
Why so far down the list? I dunno. Horizon came out a little too awkwardly close to a certain other open world game. This is an excellent game in its own right, but other games were… better. In my opinion anyway. This is another title that lives by its incredible art direction and great story. It’s too bad it has been swamped by other high quality titles.

6: Super Mario Odyssey
Another game lost (to me) in the shuffle of 2017. I personally think it is not the best Mario title ever made, that award goes to 3D Land on the 3DS, but I’ve only had time to scratch Odyssey’s surface. The capturing mechanic is the best gameplay idea that Mario has ever sported, however. You get to BE a goomba! How awesome is that?

5: Yakuza Zero
I didn’t even know I wanted this game until I wanted this game. Then when I got it and started playing it, I just started to laugh at everything. It’s one of the most endearingly hilarious things I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing, all wrapped up in a very serious Soprano’s style organised crime drama. So Japanese.

4: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
This game is one hell of an experience. If you haven’t played it yet, stop what you’re doing right now and get stuck in. A recurring theme in my list is art direction and story, and again, this title is way up there because of what it is and the way you experience it. And to top it off, the combat is so deliberate and visceral, I don’t think I’ve ever found myself holding my breath as much as I did the first few times I encountered the game’s basic enemies. It’s only let down by some flakey environmental puzzles, but it stands as one of the best games of all time in my books.

3: Sonic Mania
If anyone could write a love letter to gaming’s childhood, this would be it. Many a 10 year old kid spent afternoons playing the original Sonic platformers, sitting on the edge of their bed, hunched over a 12” colour TV, janky Mega Drive pad in-hand, collecting rings and looping loops in the first game custom-made for speed running. Now we get to do it in the living room on a 60” OLED. Good times.

2: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
I don’t know if there’s much left to say about this game, other than that it might’ve helped sell another 10 million Wii U units if it came out a year earlier. It is definitely the greatest game of all time.

And the winner?

There can be only one. The greatest game of 2017, I present to you…


https://youtu.be/KcLcG_9j8is

Tom Servo
December 2nd, 2017, 04:22 PM
No driving sims, eh? You might be ex-communicated.

Rare White Ape
December 2nd, 2017, 06:09 PM
I mentioned FM7, surely that counts :p

The best sim I’ve played all year since I got my new wheel setup is Assetto Corsa, and it’s a few years old now.

Tom Servo
December 2nd, 2017, 06:33 PM
I still really dig on Pcars 2, but that's probably because the VR support is second only to iRacing.

dodint
December 2nd, 2017, 07:31 PM
The only game I have played from the OP is FM7 and I returned it.

Cam
December 3rd, 2017, 05:43 AM
I'm not sure if I regularly played ten games this year. :lol: I always "purchase" the games with gold, but I often do not even download them.

Tom Servo
December 3rd, 2017, 08:39 AM
I have it on good authority that my wife is buying me a new set of headphones that do surround for Christmas, so I'm holding off on playing more of Hellblade until I get those. Loved what I've played so far, though.

novicius
December 4th, 2017, 04:51 AM
Starting with the shittest five games of 2017:

Destiny 2

I get it. Destiny 2 is a good game. Forza 7 is a good game. Star Wars BFII is a good game. They’re all technically accomplished and achieve what they set out to do. But why are they here? Greed and mismanagement. Sometimes both. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It’s these things that take an otherwise enjoyable experience and turn them into joyless pains in the arse. Nobody wants a progression system turned into a soulless grind. Nobody wants end-game rewards that don’t actually reward anyone. Nobody wants constant reminders that the game might be a little bit better if you’d just spend a small amount of money for just one little loot box. Most of all, I’m sure that nobody wants a developer or a publisher that doesn’t treat the gaming community with respect. And I’ll point out Mass Effect in particular because I really feel sorry for that game. I’m not angry at these titles, I’m just… disappointed.
You're getting to be as bad as YW -- but at least he put in a hundred hours before he flipped out.

Have you even played Destiny 2?? :lol:

Rare White Ape
December 4th, 2017, 11:43 AM
Yep I played the open beta and will probably try the demo just for kicks. It’s got fun shooty mechanics and epic looking environments and really takes me back to the golden era of Halo. Bungie is REALLY good at that stuff. I miss their games a lot.

The reason it’s in the list is the whole Bright Engram thing. You might brush them off as being pointless extras, but I take umbrage to them because Bungie tied them to the doling out of end-game XP, and they misled players about how much XP they’re actually earning in order to drive players towards spending real life money on them, to gamble on the chance that they’d contain the things they want. I don’t know if that was a Bungie decision or an Activision decision but their intent is clear and they can go jump off a bridge.

And so it comes to pass that a mechanically sound and genuinely accomplished game ends up on my shit list, while a game almost bereft of any modern gameplay advancements (Yakuza Zero) ends up near the top.

Rare White Ape
December 4th, 2017, 11:46 AM
I should also say that anyone who has a top ten things from this year they want to list, go for it! You’re more than welcome.

novicius
December 4th, 2017, 11:58 AM
You might brush them off as being pointless extras, but I take umbrage to them because Bungie tied them to the doling out of end-game XP
...end game XP that is spend 99.95% of the time on cosmetics. If you grind even a little bit weekly, you'll get all the mods you need in the game -- hell, there are people on Reddit complaining that Bright Engrams give out too much stuff (https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/7a2rpd/bungie_you_should_not_be_able_to_get_the/). :lol:

Further, this doesn't even impact either you (the General Gaming Public) or Bungie -- they're after the Whales of in-app gaming purchases (http://www.adweek.com/digital/infographic-whales-account-for-70-of-in-app-purchase-revenue/#/).

Ergo, it's unfair to write-off a game that you admit feels good to play AND looks epic, just because you don't like how Activision/Bungie is courting the <10% of Destiny gamers.

Just sayin'. :)

Rare White Ape
December 5th, 2017, 12:32 AM
You’re making it sound like what Bungie/Activision did up until last week is all okay. It’s plainly not. Don’t forget that. But I also see that you’re not defending the other major culprits of 2017, those who pushed the loot box/microtransaction envelope far enough over time that it eventually led to outside attention being brought down from governmental levels. This is about the greed, not the sometimes good games buried under those layers of greed. I’m not pointing sticks at Destiny the game, I’m pointing sticks at Destiny (and others) as a package. It’s the major story of 2017, and it took the shine of an otherwise fantastic year for gaming.

I can somewhat see where you’re coming from, though. You obviously love the game, and you’re emotionally, temporally, and financially invested in it, possibly more invested if you paid for the special edition/season pass/early access/day 1 DLC, etc. You wear your love of Destiny on your sleeve as I do with Zelda and all things Nintendo, so it might be reasonable for you to let it cloud your ability to make a well reasoned argument here. And I guess it’s the reason I never brought myself to bring it up directly in the Destiny thread and respectfully stayed away, you love the game as much as I love your haircut :)

Now, to address your post directly:

Cosmetics or not, loot boxes simply take away much of the enjoyment of progression in a game. IMO, and that is even before you get into the money spending aspect of the things.

Whales ARE members of the general public, they’re more vulnerable and compulsive than the rest of us and they’re shamelessly targeted and taken advantage of by publishers and their shareholders who are after the insides of their wallets. The term applied to them dehumanises them and makes the rest of us feel in our mind that they’re just “other people” who are silly enough to fall for the psychological tricks that these games play on them. Don’t fall for that.

It totally is fair to write off Destiny because of its microtransactions. 1) because it’s my list, and 2) because I don’t want to play full price AAA games that ask you to pay more for extra things even though you’ve forked over $60 to get the base experience.

And finally, you’re possibly labouring under the impression that a Destiny without microtransactions would actually be good :D I have too many Zeldas and too many Sonics and too many Pokémons at hand to worry about that friggin game :lol:

JSGeneral
December 5th, 2017, 03:42 AM
I should also say that anyone who has a top ten things from this year they want to list, go for it! You’re more than welcome.

No list per se... but was wondering why Knack was there, but Mario/Rabbids or Splatoon wasn't. Is the Knack listing a joke? I haven't played it but the video posted seems to indicate as such.

Yw-slayer
December 5th, 2017, 05:50 AM
Hardcore Beluga for Marvel Future Fight here, yo.

novicius
December 5th, 2017, 06:05 AM
You wear your love of Destiny on your sleeve as I do with Zelda and all things Nintendo, so it might be reasonable for you to let it cloud your ability to make a well reasoned argument here.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Oh believe me, I've made my well-reasoned argument. I've even provided links for proof. :)

For my part, I'm still waiting for your equally well-researched reply, Mick. ;) :shocker:



It totally is fair to write off Destiny because of its microtransactions. 1) because it’s my list, and 2) because I don’t want to play full price AAA games that ask you to pay more for extra things even though you’ve forked over $60 to get the base experience.
But you can get *everything* that the Eververse Store sells just by playing the base game... :?

You're hurting my head. :lol: :toast:

GreatScawt
December 5th, 2017, 06:47 AM
His argument in the case of Destiny 2, is that they developed a system that tries to manipulate people to spend money. Not necessary forcing them. Which I get to an extent.

I generally don't have issue with it, though. I use to. If gamers want to spend the money that's on them. Put it on the game rating comments if it's an issue, so they can avoid it. In an industry where game prices aren't rising, but game budgets are exploding, if developers have to sell some loot boxes that the 1% will dump huge amounts of money helps sustain them, then do it. As long as it's implemented correctly, and doesn't fuck with gameplay balance (especially PVP), I'm good.

In fact, if I like a game enough, I would gladly put a few more bucks in via loot boxes, just as I had done with PUBG.

novicius
December 5th, 2017, 06:52 AM
I understand the perception but I'm complaining about the fact that D2 has to be the weakest loot box ever implemented -- ergo it might as well not even exist.

Pay-to-win doesn't exist in D2, it's not even the equivalent to the original "Horse Armor" since you can get everything (cosmetic & functional) included in the base game.

Hate on D2, that's fine but damn! pick something legitimately bad 'tis all I'm saying. :lol:

dodint
December 5th, 2017, 07:00 AM
Yeah, like Forza 7.

21Kid
December 5th, 2017, 09:43 AM
Hate on D2, that's fine but damn! pick something legitimately bad 'tis all I'm saying. :lol: Like the nonsensical story?

This One Guy got his powers back and can save us all!!!
Hey guys, I brought my two friends with powers too! Go team!!! Cutscene shows one guy... :erm:
This is super easy... :p

And don't mind all these other guys/girls running around the world with the same powers! :twitch: The cutscene said only I had powers!!!

Those leaders must be super lame that they don't know how to get their powers back. All my friends did.
They just have to go to the shard and boom, powers! Thousands of people have done it. JUST TOUCH IT!!! :lol:

novicius
December 5th, 2017, 09:53 AM
Yes exactly!! :lol: :up:

*So* much more to slag in D2... :)

Rare White Ape
December 5th, 2017, 12:12 PM
You want a link? I’ve got a link.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-11-24-destiny-2-player-discovers-in-game-xp-towards-next-bright-engram-loot-box-doesnt-work-how-you-think

If it wasn’t for this little incident, where someone in the development and publishing chain decided it was ok to basically lie to players about how much XP was being awarded, and then if they hadn’t subsequently “fixed” the system and then doubled the amount of XP required to earn another loot box, all while covering it with a weak and mealy-mouthed explanation about how they “weren’t happy” with the system, then Destiny 2 wouldn’t have landed in my shittest five list.

It would instead been somewhere between 11th best and 6th worst, in other words not worth a mention.

So there!

novicius
December 5th, 2017, 12:33 PM
I still say it's a weak point but ok. :lol:

Rare White Ape
December 6th, 2017, 01:14 PM
I love a good hearty discussion though :up: